Ancient Australia home to strange giants

[Eldorado]

"For most of the last 25 million years, eastern Australia was home to a now-extinct group of marsupials called palorchestids. These animals are well known for their large size, strange tapir-like skulls, and large claws, but so far there has been no detailed study of their limb morphology. In this study, Richards and colleagues examined more than 60 fossil specimens of palorchestids of varying geologic ages to characterize the function and evolution of their arms and legs.

"Over the course of their evolution, palorchestids grew larger and stranger. Using limb proportions as a proxy for body size, these authors estimated that the latest and largest of the palorchestids may have weighed over 1,000kg." (2204lbs)

Full article at Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190913191439.htm

And Sky News UK: https://news.sky.com/story/giant-marsupials-twice-as-heavy-as-polar-bears-used-to-roam-australia-11811167

[Gwynbleidd]

Wow those are some huge....palorchestids!  over 1 ton  

Gosh aren't you glad we didn't live during these times.  Imagine walking about with things that gigantic galavanting around the countryside. Scary. 

Edited September 17, 2019 by Gwynbleidd

[SHaYap]

4 hours ago, Gwynbleidd said:

Scary

Imagine the size of the fireplace barbie stove required to cook one of them, then... scarily yummy... 

~